Top Items:
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Twisted: Trump says Porter sick, guilty; defends him publicly — President Trump is defending Rob Porter even though, privately, he says he's guilty. — Behind closed doors: The president has told multiple people that he believes the accusations about Porter, and finds him “sick.”
Discussion:
Raw Story, Shareblue Media, Mediaite and Eschaton
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Axios:
Scoop: Rob Porter telling different story than John Kelly — White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter is telling associates that some senior White House officials strongly encouraged him to “stay and fight,” and claims he “never misrepresented anything” to Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Discussion:
Politico, Vox, The Week, New York Magazine, ABC News, New York Post, Jezebel, TMZ.com and Washington Post
Jonathan Swan / Axios:
White House can't gets its story straight on Rob Porter exit — Consider this: It's been five days since domestic violence allegations toward Rob Porter surfaced. Within 24 hours, Porter was out of a job. The scandal has rocked the White House and one of its most astonishing components …
Discussion:
Politico
Eric W. Dolan / Raw Story:
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro blames Barack Obama for Rob Porter wife-beating scandal
Andrew Restuccia / Politico:
Kelly under pressure to defend handling of Porter abuse allegations
Kelly under pressure to defend handling of Porter abuse allegations
Discussion:
Axios, ABC News and ThinkProgress
New York Times:
Kim Jong-un's Sister Turns on the Charm, Taking Pence's Spotlight — PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — When the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, decided to send a large delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea this month, the world feared he might steal the show.
Discussion:
Washington Post, TheBlaze, The Korea Times, Mediaite, NewsBusters, The Guardian and Mashable
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Kim's Smiling Sister Exploits Trump-Moon Divide — Charm offensive aimed at undermining sanctions, war talk — Pence says there's ‘no daylight’ between U.S. and South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un deployed a new weapon at the Olympics to fight back against the Trump administration's sanctions …
Reuters:
North Korea judged winner of diplomatic gold at Olympics
North Korea judged winner of diplomatic gold at Olympics
Discussion:
Axios, twitchy.com and CNN
Morgan Winsor / ABC News:
North Korea's 200-plus cheerleaders command spotlight at 2018 Winter Olympics with synchronized chants
North Korea's 200-plus cheerleaders command spotlight at 2018 Winter Olympics with synchronized chants
Discussion:
CNN, The Daily Caller, New York Times, Mediaite, Associated Press, TheBlaze, twitchy.com, ThinkProgress and NewsBusters
Karolos Grohmann / Reuters:
Games organizers confirm cyber attack, won't reveal source
Games organizers confirm cyber attack, won't reveal source
Discussion:
The Guardian, Gizmodo, Engadget, The Verge and The Week
Wall Street Journal:
Senate Conservatives Offer Immigration Plan Heavy on Border Security, Quick Deportations — Package aligns with President Trump's proposal but has uphill battle to 60 votes — WASHINGTON—Heading into an open-ended immigration debate, some of the Senate's most conservative members …
RELATED:
Matt Kibbe / Reason:
The Tea Party Is Officially Dead. It Was Killed By Partisan Politics. — I helped make the grassroots activist movement a reality. But now the party's over. — It has finally happened: The Tea Party is dead. — The grassroots movement that fought so hard for fiscal sanity in government over the past decade is no more.
Discussion:
EconLog
Tal Kopan / CNN:
GOP senators introduce version of White House immigration framework
GOP senators introduce version of White House immigration framework
Discussion:
Axios
David Siders / Politico:
Devin Nunes creates his own alternative news site — LOS ANGELES — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a relentless critic of the media, has found a way around the often unflattering coverage of his role in the Trump-Russia investigation — by operating his own partisan news outlet.
Discussion:
The Hill, KTLA, TheBlaze, Politicus USA, Hullabaloo, Vox, Instapundit, Splinter, Mother Jones, RedState, Mediaite and Axios, more at Mediagazer »
Tommy Christopher / Shareblue Media:
GOP candidate and Trump ally faces global backlash for racist attack on Meghan Markle — Republican congressional candidate Paul Nehlen's response to the denouncement was just as repugnant as his hateful tweet. — Congressional candidate and prominent Trump supporter Paul Nehlen (R-WI) …
Discussion:
The Guardian and twitchy.com
Russell Mokhiber / Common Dreams:
Woman Dragged Out of West Virginia House Hearing For Listing Oil and Gas Contributions to Members — “The people who are going to be speaking in favor of this bill are all going to be paid by the industry.” — Lissa Lucas traveled the 100 miles from her home in Cairo …
Discussion:
Raw Story
CNN:
Sen. Bob Corker's second thoughts on retiring — John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent and Rebecca Schatz, CNN — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — CNN has learned Sen. Bob Corker is mulling over changing his mind on retirement and running for re-election — Washington (CNN) …
Discussion:
Tennessean.com
Nancy Cook / Politico:
The mysterious oppo researcher working in the White House lawyer's office — Michael Roman, best known as a shadowy operative who oversaw a research unit for the Koch network, now occupies an unusual and undefined role in the Trump administration. — Few people in or close to the White House …
Christian Davenport / Washington Post:
The Trump administration wants to turn the International Space Station into a commercially run venture, NASA document shows. … The Trump administration wants to turn the International Space Station into a kind of orbiting real estate venture run not by the government, but by private industry.
Discussion:
Fox News, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine, New York Times, Axios, SpaceNews.com, Engadget, Vox, Gizmodo and The Verge
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Trump Shows Us the Way — WASHINGTON — Donald Trump slipped into the Oval Office through a wormhole of confusion about the American identity. — We weren't winning wars anymore. They just went on and on and on, with inexplicable and deceptive aims and so many lives and limbs and trillions lost.
Discussion:
Power Line
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Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Let's Ban Porn
Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
New York attorney general sues Weinstein Co. for civil rights ‘violations,’ throwing sale into question — A $500-million deal to sell Harvey Weinstein's troubled old studio to former Obama administration official Maria Contreras-Sweet hit a major roadblock this weekend after the New York …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and NPR
RELATED:
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Grassley and Cornyn unveil enforcement-heavy immigration bill — Proposal could legalize 1.8 million Dreamers in exchange biggest enforcement changes in decades — GOP senators unveiled President Trump's enforcement-heavy immigration bill Sunday, ponying up their ante as Congress begins …
Steven Hayward / Power Line:
Is California Starting to Circle the Drain? — I recently became a crime victim for one of the few times in my life. My car was burgled while I was up in the Bay Area on my weekly sojourn to the Peoples Republic of Berkeley. I say “burgled” rather than “broken into,” …
Discussion:
American Enterprise Institute and Instapundit